Secondary menu

You are here

Blogs

The PSA Security Network, a security and systems integrator cooperative with headquarters in Westminster, Colo., is accepting presentations through Aug. 4, 2017 for its TEC 2018 annual conference. Proposals can be submitted at www.psatec.com/cfp.

TEC 2018, which will be held at the Sheraton Downtown Denver in Denver, Colo., March 12-16, 2018, is a premier education and networking event for all professional systems integrators in the security and audio-visual markets. TEC features education and certification programs, networking, and dedicated exhibit hours designed to advance the skills and expertise of industry professionals nationwide. This training venue is open to all industry professionals and is designed to meet the educational needs of all employees within an integrator’s organization.

PSA Security Network’s president and CEO Bill Bozeman told Security Systems News that the move from Westminster—where the conference had been held for several years—to downtown Denver fro 2018 was needed to accommodate the growth of the show.

“The hotel [Downtown Denver Sheraton] is bigger, so we look forward to having everyone under one roof,” Bozeman told SSN. “In addition, I think some of our younger members and supporters are going to enjoy being in downtown Denver, where there is so much to do.”

The education program will deliver sessions tailored to physical security and audio-visual integrators focused on emerging technologies, critical issues in the industry, and tool development to augment attendees’ knowledge needed to continue to drive these industries forward. Sessions will be selected that serve a variety of disciplines including business management, sales and marketing, HR and recruiting, project management and operations, and installation and service.

Proposals are welcome for both certification programs and general education sessions for the security and audio-visual markets. All sessions must be unbiased and minimize commercial references and overt branding. Submissions are evaluated based on topic relevance, speaker expertise, and originality of the content. Additional guidelines are available within the call for presentations submission tool.

Accepted and approved presenters will receive complimentary registration to TEC 2018 and will have the opportunity to solidify their reputation as an industry resource and subject matter expert while expanding their own professional network and gaining access to strategic partnerships. PSA does not pay honoraria or expenses for accepted proposals.

Central Security Group on July 6 announced that it received an incremental first lien term loan of $40 million, as well as a 12-month maturity extension to its credit facilities.

The new funding “is part of a broader $350 million financing the company started in 2014. This was an add on to that financing,” Richard Ginsburg, president and CEO of Central Security Group, told Security Systems News in an email interview. CSG finances through Credit Suisse, Ginsburg noted.

In the recent announcement, Ginsburg mentioned that the funding will help the company with geographic expansion, acquisitions and growing its account base. The announcement also emphasized the company’s Alert 360 offering, which provides interactive security.

Concerning acquisitions, Ginsburg told SSN, “We are always looking but are very selective.”

Ginsburg discussed what CSG looks for in an ideal acquisition. “We would consider quality companies with customers put on through more traditional marketing,” he told SSN. “We also look for companies with good employees and managers who are hitting glass ceilings because of the company's size and who would benefit from a company like ours, with more resources, financing, and a positive culture.”

The new Sandy Springs, Ga. alarm ordinance, which is set to be voted on July 18, is alarming many in the security industry as it looks to force alarm dealers to pay their subscriber's false alarm fees and fines.

“This makes as much sense as a car rental company being responsible for paying your speeding tickets if you get caught speeding in their car,” Dan Gordon, president of the Georgia Electronic Life Safety and Security Association (GELSSA), and owner of Ga.-based Gordon Security, told Security System News.

Gordon, as well as many security companies working in Georgia, including LOUD Security and Ackerman Security, are rallying others in the industry to pay attention to what is going on in Sandy Springs.

“If Sandy Springs passes this, which city goes next?” John Loud, president of LOUD Security Systems, told SSN, noting that he does not think this ordinance will help Sandy Springs reduce false dispatches.

“They outsource the collections to a firm called CryWolf (Public Safety Corporation),” Loud explained. “Their service includes collecting the assessed fines. The cost to Sandy Springs is the same, whether the bill goes to the end users of the alarm system or the alarm company. But the alarm company’s costs will increase. They will now have to bill their customers and establish a collection process, increasing the workload for their personnel.”

Loud and others in opposition to the ordinance believe this will actually cause an increase in the amount of false dispatches.

“Citizens will usually respond to citations from their local police or city municipality,” he explained. “If a vendor or service provider sends an assessment, they could very easily change monitoring companies and get additional false alarms through new providers. They can choose to never pay and continually change companies.”

He noted that this would result in more false dispatches as the end user would never be forced to change their behavior.

Loud also pointed out that the court systems of Sandy Springs will have a lot more cases. ”Either the alarm companies will be filing suit to collect monies from customers refusing to pay or the city will be pursuing alarm companies for nonpayment of fines they do not have the money to pay.”

He continued, “You will likely see many alarm companies choosing to not do business with residents/businesses that must comply with this ordinance. In Sandy Springs, most alarm companies charge only $25 per month. While false alarm fees can cost hundreds of dollars, the accounts receivable process will likely make it financially impossible for fire/alarm companies to take on such risk.”

He said that Sandy Springs could achieve greater reduction in the false dispatches if they would enforce all of their current ordinance provisions, such as:

- Follow the Enhanced Call Verification Georgia State law that went into effect in 2013. “The 911 operator could very easily ask for the two phone numbers the alarm company called prior to dispatch request,” said Loud.

- Do not allow dispatch on the subscribers that have not paid for previous fines—put them on a do not dispatch list.

- Do not allow dispatch for subscribers that have had 10 false alarms in a permit year.

- Activate the false alarm school the ordinance allows for, which will provide the training and prevention of future false alarms.

“Another step Sandy Springs could pursue is a higher fee structure for excessive false alarms,” said Loud. “This would force subscribers to either fix their system, teach others to use it properly or they could choose to stop arming their system. All three of the options result in reduced dispatches.”

He continued, “While I certainly see there are many ways to help unite with the City of Sandy Springs and help them achieve their ultimate goal of reducing false dispatches and wasting government recourses, I do not believe requiring the alarm companies to pay the fees is the answer.”

The GELSSA, along with strong industry voices like Loud's, are urging those in the industry to reach out to the mayor of Sandy Springs to voice their concerns, and for security dealers in the Sandy Springs area to attend the planned vote on July 18.

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee recently opened its sixth annual communications survey, which asks about monitored accounts using POTS, VoIP digital dialers, as well as other technologies used for transmitting alarm data.

AICC started conducting the survey in 2012 because there was a lack of data on communication paths, according to AICC chair Lou Fiore. “The idea is to figure out what communications is in use, from the premises to a central station,” Fiore told Security Systems News.

“When we go to congress and the FCC and we want to ask that they retain something, or ask for new services, we have data to back it up,” Fiore said.

“This year, I introduced a question regarding AES, as opposed to cellular. But, in previous years, we’ve lumped AES … or private one-way radio with cellular, [calling] it all ‘wireless,’” Fiore said.

Part of the survey covers wireless technologies. “In 2016, 58 percent of new installations were using some form of wireless. Back when I started that part of the survey in 2013 it was about 45 percent. So, it’s steadily ticking up, and I’m sure this year it will [increase] even more,” Fiore said.

In 2012, 83.5 percent of monitored accounts used POTS digital dialers, either as a sole method of transmission or along with another method, Fiore said. “Now, it’s down to 58 percent,” he said, adding that he expects it to be lower this year.

The survey also asked what percentage of accounts use another technology—such as radio, IP, or cellular—as the sole method of transmission. “In 2012, it was 14.5 percent. 2016, it went up to 40 percent,” said Fiore.

In 2013, when the survey began asking about accounts that use IP exclusively, 15.6 percent used IP exclusively. That figure decreased to 9 percent in 2016, Fiore said. “IP exclusively, the use of Internet … is not as popular as everyone’s thought. It’s actually decreasing; it’s been steadily decreasing through the years.”

The world market for professional video surveillance equipment grew by 3.9 percent in 2016, despite a drop in camera prices, according to recently published estimates from IHS Markit through its Video Surveillance Intelligence Service.

“This is a higher rate of growth than in 2015 (1.9 percent) but still low by historical standards,” Jon Cropley, principal analyst, video surveillance, IHS Markit, said in the announcement.

IHS forecasts a slightly higher growth in the global market for 2017—at 5.5 percent—and as a result, the world market will be worth $16.2 billion in 2017.

Accounting for more than 40 percent of global revenues measured in U.S. dollars, the Chinese market grew by 7.2 percent in 2016, according to IHS, which noted that exchange rate changes did play a role in suppressing a higher calculated growth in that currency (as the average annual exchange rate of the Chinese Yuan Renminbi to the U.S. dollar fell by 6.6 percent in 2016). In the report, Hikvision took the top spot in several categories.

“The world market excluding China grew by just 1.6 percent in 2016,” Cropley pointed out. “Demand for security cameras grew rapidly but prices fell considerably, affecting revenues. In fact, revenues declined in a number of countries.”

IHS also found that the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment is gradually becoming more concentrated, although it remains highly fragmented compared with supply to many other markets.

“The top fifteen vendors accounted for 58 percent of revenues in 2016,” noted Cropley. “In 2016, a number of Chinese vendors continued to gain market share rapidly in regions outside China. They tend to offer products with low prices and this has been a major factor in average price erosion in those regions.”

The report also found that 59 percent of all security cameras shipped in 2016 were network cameras, and shipments of HD CCTV cameras more than doubled. Less than 1 percent of network cameras shipped were 4K-compliant, according to IHS.

Note: Check back for more on this report, including additional comments from IHS’ Jon Cropley.

The Monitoring Association today announced that Ivan Spector, president of Montreal-based Sentinel Alarm Co., was voted to be the next president of TMA at its general membership meeting, held on June 13 during ESX in Nashville Tenn.

“I am very honored and humbled to serve in the position of President,” Spector said in TMA’s announcement. “I look forward to continuing our successes and I thank all of our members for their support and participation.”

Spector is a Superior Court of Canada-acknowledged and accepted expert witness. Spector is a graduate of McGill University and he and his wife Jodi live in Montreal with their four children. Sentinel Alarm Co. is a full-service ULC-listed and Five Diamond designated monitoring station.

“In addition to his ownership of Sentinel Alarm, Spector is a leader in advancing alarm management in both Canada and the United States,” TMA said in today's announcement. For CANASA, Spector has served on the Board of Directors, was national president, and chair of the Response Committee. He was also a founding member and longtime board member of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition and he currently serves on the Executive Committee of TMA.

In addition to the election of Spector, officer positions for the next two years were proposed and accepted by vote of the membership: Don Young, ADT’s chief information officer; Morgan Hertel, VP of technology and innovation for Rapid Response; and CPI’s chief technology officer Steve Butkovich, will become vice presidents of the association and Alan Gillmore IV, Gillmore Security, will become TMA’s treasurer.

“Congratulations to Ivan and our other new officers,” TMA's current president Pamela J. Petrow, said in a prepared statement. “I have had the pleasure of working with all of them during my presidency, and know that the Association will be in very good hands under their leadership.”

These leadership changes become official at the conclusion of the TMA Annual Meeting in Scottsdale October 7-11.

U.S. households with professional security monitoring will generate nearly $14.7 billion in 2021, reaching a five-year CAGR of 4.7 percent from 2017-2021, according to Parks Associates’ Home Security NUMBERS research.

“Our last number from the fourth quarter of 2016 shows that 21.5 percent of broadband households, which is about 80 percent of overall households, have professionally monitored security,” Tom Kerber, Parks' director of IoT strategy, told Security Systems News. “So when you look at that number on an overall household basis, the number ends up being around 18.8 percent that have professionally monitored security.”

That is approximately 22 million households, and by 2021 Parks estimates that number will rise to 26.6 million, or 21.6 percent of households overall, having professionally monitored security, representing an approximately 3 percent growth rate.

“Over the last decade it has never been close to that 21.6 percent number,” noted Kerber. “In 2010, the number was 13 percent, so that is strong growth. Although from a conventional wisdom perspective it doesn’t sound like much, it is substantial. We had significant recovery from the recession from 2013-15, and now the growth is more modest, but it is still growing.”

When asked about the impact of the telecoms into the space, Kerber noted that Comcast is making waves.

“Comcast when they went public with their subscriber count at 957,000 as part of their annual reporting, that was substantial, representing a 40 percent growth over the prior year,” he said. ”Whether it is bundling with their core services, or subscribing people when they move, or more aggressive sales tactics mixed with their call center operations, they obviously have figured out how to move the needle in a substantial way. At a million subscribers, they are equivalent to Moni, or Vivint to some extent. So you can’t discount that type of success.”

He continued, “Telecoms, led by Comcast, are growing at a faster rate than the market is growing, so they are gaining market shares. And when we look at some of the smaller players, they are not growing at the same rate as others in the market, and we are trying to understand why this is happening through some current research that we are doing.”

Dina Abdelrazik, research analyst, Parks Associates, told SSN that some of the smaller local dealers “are a little more hesitant to provide smart home controls. I don't know if it is more of an infrastructure basis—they don’t have the employees to do so or the technological savvy to do so—but they are falling behind in terms of providing these controllers in the home that consumers are actively asking for. So, of course, if consumers can’t find it through their local dealer, they are going to look to those who can provide it for them.”

In the past couple of weeks, Vivint has made two announcements. The first announcement, which came out on June 13, was about the company’s new facility. Then, on June 20, Vivint announced its new solution for property developers and managers—Vivint Smart Properties.

According to Vivint’s announcement, the new facility will be a 43,000-square-foot building, capable of housing up to 400 employees and includes a demo home equipped with a Vivint smart home system, a full-size basketball court, fitness center and six training rooms, including a technical training room and a hands-on product training room.

“We look forward to tapping into the strong business and engineering talent of the Utah State University community and contributing to Utah’s growth as a tech hub,” Alex Dunn, president at Vivint Smart Home, said in a prepared statement.

"We are very pleased to provide space for Vivint Smart Home on the USU Innovation Campus," Noelle Cockett, Utah State University president, said in the announcement. "The center will afford employment opportunities for people in Cache Valley, including USU students. Also, we anticipate USU research and outreach faculty engaging with Vivint R&D personnel in areas of common interest," Cockett continued.

The customer, property managers, looks a little different from the company's typical customer, Jenkins noted. “It’s just a different model for us, but I think we have a good understanding of how it needs to happen and we’re ready to deploy it.”

Tom Few, Vivint Smart Home's vice president of business development, described how the new offering benefits both renters and property managers.

“We believe that it’ll help drive occupancy, it’ll help drive net operating income with increased rents,” Few told SSN. “I believe that it allows the renter to have control of their apartment, whether it be through video, door access, thermostats, lighting. These are all things that people are becoming accustomed to having and I think it’s going to be an amenity that’s going to attract more renters to that property.”

Vivint has dedicated that is focused on property managers, developers and owners, according to Few. “We are presenting the opportunity to them, we are getting to the decision makers, and … everybody that we have spoken to has been happy to talk to us and interested in the offering,” he said. “Now, it’s just about creating that demand and actually deploying it.”

The Security Industry Association (SIA) announced this week the establishment of a political action committee (PAC) called the SecurityPAC, which was formed to bolster its advocacy efforts to fully engage within the U.S. political process on matters affecting the security industry.

The timing of this announcement couldn’t be better as it comes a week before the SIA GovSummit, a leading public policy forum for the security industry set for June 28-29 on Capitol Hill and at The Liaison Capitol Hill.

“SecurityPAC was established to strengthen the voice of the security industry on Capitol Hill, by enabling SIA members to support candidates for federal office who will champion issues that are important to the industry,” Joseph Hoellerer, SIA Government Relations manager told Security Systems News. “There are hundreds of trade associations in Washington with robust advocacy efforts and SecurityPAC provides SIA with an additional and important tool to advance the policy priorities of its members.”

The newly formed SecurityPAC will raise funds solely from SIA members to support candidates for federal office who champion important industry issues, and will support matters pertaining but not limited to issues such as homeland security, cybersecurity, federal procurement and critical infrastructure protection.

“The establishment of the SecurityPAC follows the core mission of SIA, which is ‘to be a catalyst for success within the global security industry through information, insight and influence,’” SIA CEO Don Erickson said in the announcement. “The Security Industry Association’s political action committee will enable the association to do just that by adding a vital voice to the national dialogue during federal elections. With SecurityPAC, we will support crucial causes for the improved security posture of the entire country.”

Contributions to SecurityPAC are strictly voluntary and in compliance with statutorily defined regulations of the Federal Election Commission. SIA members with user credentials can access the SecurityPAC website at www.siasecuritypac.org. Employees of SIA member companies interested in gaining access to the site should contact Joe Hoellerer at 301-804-4714 or jhoellerer@securityindustry.org.

I've arrived safely in Nashville, Tenn., for the 10th ESX show. Looking at the educational sessions, I am seeing a lot of engaging topics. Over the next few days, quite a few of the sessions I'm planning on attending will be in the "Maximize Your Monitoring Center" track. I'm particularly interested in the monitoring-focused, three-part leadership boot camp on Friday, presented by Justin Robbins, content director for HDI & ICMI. Be sure to check this blog daily, as I'll be updating it with some key points from the educational sessions as well as some highlights from my trips to the show floor.

Day 1

To start the first day, I attended the OpenXchange Breakfast, featuring a presentation on "The Changing Competitive Landscape." This session brought up a variety of points and perspectives from each of the panelists. The moderator, ESX chairman George De Marco, addressed an interesting topic: whether consumers are more drawn to the connected home or security.

Justin Wong, VP of business development for IFTTT, said there needs to be a defined difference between the two. For example, a consumer may purchase a home camera, not connected to a security system, and believe they have security. The product they have is more for awareness than security, and a security dealer can focus on that messaging.

Andrew Thomas, SkyBell's co-founder and chief revenue officer, said, “The thing that keeps you safe also needs to keep you connected.” Dealers can use connected home as a bridge into offering security.

At another point De Marco asked about the DIY space. Robert C. Martens, futurist and VP of strategy and partnerships for Allegion, said that the space has done well, which attracts new entrants viewing the market as an opportunity.

When De Marco asked about potential use cases for IoT, Scott Harkins, Honeywell’s VP of Honeywell Connected Home, had an interesting take on IoT as an opportunity. He wondered about the potential for more mixing between DIY and professional security, such as through partnerships or professional systems being as easy to install as DIY systems.

Following the breakfast, I went to "Raising the Talent Bar: Your Guide to Finding Qualified Employees," featuring panelists Don Childers, Security Central's COO; Cathy Rempel president of American Security Integrators; and Dee Ann Harn, CEO, RFI Enterprises. Rebecca Bayne, president and consultant for Bayne Consulting and Search Inc., served as the moderator.

I found this topic to be particularly interesting as SSN both heard from a variety of professionals about the challenge of hiring and in our April News Poll readers weighed in on the topic, saying that finding the right people can be a challenge.

The panel addressed some points that I’ve heard before, such as culture being the key to attracting good applicants. Childers in particular had a point that companies need to offer incentives that are different, which might not be more monetary compensation, but could be more time off.

Harn said that a referral system that rewards employees for recruiting new employees has been successful for RFI. "In every different market, it's a different kind of a challenge," she said, but highlighted that companies need to know who their employees are.

Rempel said that her company often looks to hire from within. She noted that in order for that system to work, employees need to know what is expected of them to advance, such as certain skill sets.

I found Bayne had a memorable way of looking at what applicants need to know about a company; they want to know about the CLAMPS: culture, lifestyle, advancement, money, people and stability.

In the opening keynote luncheon, Carey Lohrenz, author and the first female U.S. Navy F-14 tomcat pilot, translated her experiences with adversities into ways that businesses can approach changes. In the Navy, Lohrenz faced a variety of challenges including aspiring to be a pilot when law prohibited females as well as the physical challenges of flying at Mach 2—twice the speed of sound.

One piece of advice she gave was to simultaneously focus on long term goals and do the difficult, short-term work to achieve those.

Lohrenz discussed how certain training techniques were designed to break people down, mentally and physically; she also said that these were instrumental in getting people to overcome a fear of failure and operate at the best possible levels.

She stressed the importance of being fearless in moving ahead. While taking the safe route, someone else can move ahead, she said. “Sometimes not taking a risk can be the biggest risk you can take," Lohrenz said.

For me, the second day of ESX 2017 began with “Advanced database Management for the Monitoring Center—Unlocking the Power of this Major Asset.” This session had quite a line-up of speakers: Dave Bhattacharjee, vice president of IOT for Stanley Security; Jens Kolind, president and CEO of Innovative Business Software; Sandra Maples, director of IoT product management for Verisk Insurance Solutions; and Mark E. McCall, Security Central’s general manager. The moderator was Mary Jo Lakhal, senior program manager for West Safety Services.

Bhattacharjee opened with a point about different aspects to data coming in, such as the categories of structured and unstructured data. He continued by defining data with three other points: the variety of the data, the volume of it, and the velocity of how fast it can be processed.

Kolind concurred, adding a separate way to look at data: by its size, the type of data, and what it is the company wants to do with it. Kolind also said that visualization and analysis of data has become more important.

Maples also touched on the concept of visualization. She advised audience members to consider third party tools and look at good colors and contrasts for laying out data. Data that will be interpreted and used in a monitoring center needs to be well laid out, she said, because it can mean the difference between correctly using it and making a mistake.

Wholesale monitoring centers have a couple of key uses for data, which McCall touched upon; using it internally as well as sharing it with the company’s customers.

Next, I went to the session “Monitoring Industry Update: Part 1: ASAP to PSAP: Your Electronic Link to Profitability and Part 2: Checklist Working Session for UL 827 and UL 1981,” with TMA’s executive director and CEO Jay Hauhn and UL’s engineering manager Steve Schmit.

As it turned out, the session was reversed, with Schmit presenting first. He examined various aspects to UL standards that affect monitoring centers—UL 827 and UL 1981—how they will change in their next editions and areas where UL sees the most non-compliance issues.

UL 1981, focused on central station automation systems, will now be more focused on software in its new third edition, Schmit said.

Among potential non-compliance issues for UL 872, he listed needing multiple ISPs and MFVNs if possible or where available and needing a trained staff member or contracted service to fix the secondary power solution.

Most requirements for UL 827 new eight edition are effective on Jan. 31, 2018, with redundant site requirements effective May 29, 2020.

Recognizing a wide range of attendees in the session, Hauhn discussed a variety of aspects relevant to The Monitoring Association’s ASAP to PSAP program, such as how it works and its benefits.

The program seeks to improve accuracy and speed of communications between central stations and PSAPs by transmitting alarm information digitally. Among other benefits, Hauhn noted on the time saved per call, about one-and-a-half minutes per call. From the approximately 190k dispatches using ASAP in the last 15 months, the time saved adds up to about 4,748 saved hours, he said.

Giving an update on the program’s progress, Hauhn mentioned getting parts of New York online with the program with help from Doyle Security Systems.

The general session, “Innovate or Else” presented by Dr. Robert Kriegel, best selling author and owner of Kriegel 2 Inc., talked about approaches to business—particularly the difference in a winning attitude and trying not to lose.

He invited the audience to play a game with a person next to them, asking them first to play to win. Attendees had a different strategy when asked to play not to lose, becoming more cautious and taking fewer risks.

Everybody is playing-not-to-lose in one area of their life, Kriegel said, and that is an opportunity for growth. “What's one thing that you could be doing right now that's a play to win strategy?"

Among other advice, Kriegel spoke against the “110 percent” mentality, saying that a passionate and more easy-going 90 percent is better than a stressed 110 percent.

Among the afternoon sessions I was drawn to “Residential Security: Innovation, Competition, and Channel Growth,” with panelists Derrick Dicoi, executive director for Xfinity Home Product Management, Comcast, Tom Few, senior vice president of business development for Vivint, Timothy McKinney, Vice President of ADT Custom Home Services, and moderator Dina Abdelrazik, research analyst for Parks Associates.

Abdelrazik opened with some perspective from Parks Associates’ research, including that the penetration rate for the industry has been steady over the past several years and key triggers to buying a security system are the move to a new house or a break-in experienced in the neighborhood.

The format for this session was largely around attendee questions, which covered a range of topics including whether lower cost options could canablize a company’s higher RMR base as well as Vivint’s new FlexPay options and its partnership with Best Buy.

Day 3

I spent the morning of ESX 2017’s third day attending the three-part leadership boot camp, presented by Justin Robbins, content director for HDI and ICMI. "Boot camp is not always comfortable, it's not always fun, but it gives you information that you absolutely need to move forward," Robbins said in the first session.

The first part was entitled, “Leadership Fundamentals in the Monitoring Center.” He examined the variety of aspects related to a monitoring center, defining it as a “coordinated system of people, processes, technologies and strategies that provides access to information resources and expertise, through appropriate channels of communication, enabling interactions that create value for the customer and organization.” From there, Robbins defined leadership in a monitoring center as having everything to “handle an accurately forecasted workload, at service level and with quality.”

Among a variety of factors that impact monitoring centers, Robbins took a close look at three driving forces: workload arrival patterns, visible or invisible queues and customer tolerance factors.

In “Resource Planning in the Monitoring Center,” the second part of the leadership boot camp, Robbins focused on the concept of "having the right people, in the right place at the right time."

Here, he outlined steps of the planning and management process, such as choosing service level and response time objectives, collecting data, forecasting workload and calculating base staff.

Robbins stressed the importance of getting this right, adding that there are consequences of having too many or too few staff on at a time. Companies should be looking at workload in short time periods throughout a day, such as half-hour intervals as opposed to the workload over an entire day. Companies can then accommodate by bringing on or taking off employees as workload fluctuates throughout a day.

Another concept Robbins examined in his second session was “shrinkage,” the average amount of time an employ would not be able to work as a result of training, time off or other factors.

In the last portion, “Inspiring Operator Performance in the Monitoring Center,” Robbins looked at various groups of employees, including those that are tuned out, on hold, engaged, overwhelmed or burnt out.

He touched on engagement and satisfaction. These topics are not necessarily linked, he said; A person can be satisfied with all of the compensation and benefits, but they are not engaged, or a person could be engaged, but dissatisfied with their benefits or pay.

Robbins said that people leave bosses more than they leave jobs. He added to this point by illustrating the differences in why a person joins a company and the reasons they might leave.

People generally join a company first for its compensation, second for the job itself, and lastly for who their supervisor would be, he said. However, when they chose to leave, the biggest reason is often the employee's supervisors, followed by the job’s responsibilities, and lastly for the compensation.

Robbins underlined the impact of seemingly simple gestures, like a hand written thank you note when someone does something above and beyond.

ESX 2017 was capped off by the “Public Safety Luncheon: Video Surveillance – Focusing on the Evidence,” where Miles Brissette, principal in the Law Offices of Gill & Brissette, spoke on factors of how video surveillance is used in the courtroom.

I was interested to hear Brissette talk about how the face is generally not focused on, and other factors are used to identify criminals captured on video. He showed a video where a person was recognized on video because of characteristics in their bag that tied them to a crime, not their face.

In another video example, Brissette showed a clip and highlighted that the person committing a crime was identified due to the appearance of their jeans.

Among other pieces of insight, Brissette highlighted the importance of having something colorful in the field of view of a camera, which can be used for color calibration.

It was great to be in Nashville, Tenn. for ESX 2017 and I hope to see another great line up of educational sessions and keynote speakers at ESX 2018, to be held in Nashville, June 19-22, 2018.